Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan has been engaged in serious talks to sell a majority stake in the franchise since March, but the ownership situation is still in flux, according to ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo.
The potential buyers are “led by Hornets minority owner Gabe Plotkin and Atlanta Hawks minority owner Rick Schnall…No deal is imminent, but there's significant momentum on a sale that would eventually install Plotkin and Schnall as the co-governors of the Hornets,” Adrian Wojnarowski reported in March.
If a sale is completed, Jordan is expected to remain with a minority stake in the franchise, but it doesn't look like a deal is on the verge of happening. That's because Jordan was awaiting the possibility of landing the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft before deciding whether to proceed with a sale, per ESPN.
As that is not the case, with the Hornets earning the right to select with the No. 2 overall pick at the end of June, that plan may have changed.
“It remains to be seen whether moving up to No. 2 changes that plan and what the timetable might look like if a sale did occur,” wrote Givony and Woo on Tuesday, “as well as how that might affect the front offices' decision-making process in regard to who to draft.”
Jordan already sold a significant minority stake to Plotkin, founder and chief investment officer of Melvin Capital, and Daniel Sundheim, founder and chief investment officer of D1 Capital in 2020, per Wojanorwki. Sundheim is reportedly part of the group working to purchase the team.
A six-time NBA champion, five-time MVP and the league's only Black majority owner, Michael Jordan has owned a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets since 2010.
He purchased a majority stake in the franchise for $275 million, and if he does end up selling, it will be the end of a 13-year run as the owner of the franchise for arguably the greatest player in league history.
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